ECO Festival - Sustainable Mobility and Smart Cities Festival

A festival of ecological transition in the center of Rome

ECO - Sustainable Mobility and Smart Cities Festival is the Roman event that, every September, places the way we move and how we will live in cities over the coming decades at the center of public debate. It takes place at Roma Eventi - Centro Congressi Piazza di Spagna, at via Alibert 5A, in the Municipality of Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Lazio region: a venue that places the reflection on the mobility of the future exactly where the problems of traffic, pollution, and accessibility are most visible, in the historic center of a major European capital.

What is discussed at ECO

The festival is not a product fair but a major schedule of meetings, round tables, and interviews with key figures from the institutional, political, academic, and business worlds. The themes that return each year are those currently redesigning Italian urban life:

• electric mobility, charging infrastructure, and autonomous driving;
• public transport and intermodality, focusing on the connection between regional trains, urban transport, and the last mile;
• sustainable logistics and the digitalization of goods;
• circular economy, recycling, and material reuse;
• urban forestry, public green spaces, and air quality;
• road safety and the livability of urban centers;
• environmental education and culture, with the direct involvement of schools.

Smart cities beyond technology

One of the elements characterizing the festival's most recent approach is the attempt to move beyond a purely technological view of the smart city. The focus shifts to the individual: what concrete effects do mobility choices have on health, daily time, social life, and the economic stability of neighborhoods. It is an approach that links transport planning with the regeneration of historic centers, the management of public spaces, and accessibility for the elderly, children, and people with disabilities.

Research and data

Each edition features the presentation of studies and research on the mobility habits of Italians, which then become material for discussion in subsequent sessions. This is one of the reasons why ECO is followed by local administrators and industry professionals: the two days offer an updated snapshot of how much and how we move around the country, and the real impact of cars, trains, bicycles, and local public transport.

Organizers and supporters

The festival is organized by Ludo srl and Big Up srl and relies on a scientific committee that brings together organizations such as Legambiente, FIAB, Motus-E, and Bikeconomy Osservatorio. Over the years, the event has received the patronage of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Education, and ANCI (the National Association of Italian Municipalities), in addition to the collaboration of major companies active in energy transition and transport.

An event open to the city

Access to ECO is free and participation is open to citizens, students, public administrators, companies, and industry professionals, upon registration on the official website. The sessions are also broadcast live by the main Italian press agencies, making it possible to follow the festival from a distance. For those visiting Rome in September, ECO represents an unusual opportunity: an event of substance, free of charge and in the heart of the city, at a time when the capital finds its rhythm again after the summer.